Mother accused of poisoning children

ST. LOUIS, June 17 (UPI) -- A mother is on trial in St. Louis this week, charged with poisoning her two young children, one of whom died, with her blood pressure medicine.

Judy Pickens, 38, of St. Louis is charged with first-degree murder, first-degree assault and armed criminal action for allegedly using her medication to poison her son Mikal, 3, who died a week after he was brought to a hospital emergency room, and daughter Kheematah, then 5, who eventually recovered.

A doctor who treated the children testified Tuesday in St. Louis Circuit Court that Pickens had appeared to be very concerned about them, spending hours at their bedsides in October 2004.

"It was almost refreshing for us to see a parent so involved with their children's care," said Dr. Jamie Sutherell.

But prosecutor Shirley Rogers said investigators determined that while Pickens appeared to care deeply for her children, she was crushing tablets of her blood pressure medication and injecting them into her son's intravenous tube at the hospital.

Hospital personnel testified about their efforts to figure out the root of the children's illness.

It wasn't until the day Mikal died that a nurse noticed a while powdery substance in the tube running to his intravenous line. Eventually, tests on that substance led to the charges against Pickens.

While the state is expected to continue presenting its case against Pickens Wednesday, testimony in the trial may include information about Munchausen syndrome by proxy, a medically recognized psychological disorder and form of child abuse in which a parent, usually the mother, intentionally makes a child ill, often to get attention for herself.